High Court orders dismantling of concrete barricade in the southern Hebron hills (B'Tselem)

The High Court of Justice accepted the petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel on behalf of Palestinians from the southern Hebron hills to remove a concrete barricade that Israeli security forces had built. The forty-one-kilometer barricade runs from the Tene settlement in the west to the Carmel settlement in the east. The eighty-two centimeter high barricade makes it impossible for vehicles to cross. The army contends that the barricade is needed to defend the access roads to the settlements north of the separation barrier, on the "Palestinian" side of the barrier, and to facilitate security forces' control of the area. The barricade was to have thirteen openings to enable Palestinians to cross.

The structure increased the isolation of some 4,000 Palestinians living in eighteen villages southeast of Route 317. Yatta, the town on which these residents are completely dependent for services and consumer goods, is located on the other side of the barricade. Also, the barricade restricted the access of many farmers from Yatta and nearby villages to their farmland, which lies southeast of the barrier.

The High Court ruled that the barricade "harms the livelihood of residents of these villages, who have to go the town centers in the area to market their products, and it substantially increases the costs of vital commodities, such as water, food, fuel, and food for livestock. As a result, the concrete barricade infringes the right to property, freedom of movement, and the right to education, health, family life, and dignity."

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